There was no shortage of drama on Day 3 of the 28th edition of the Red Dragon. The eliminations were Formula 1-fast. The bad beats were spectacular. The chip stacks rivaled the height of some Macau high rises. At the end of the day Junhao Hong did the best job navigating a field rife with land mines and bagged a final table-leading stack of 4.61 million.

The Red Dragon nine

The final table is a particularly compelling one with numerous Chinese players filling out the table but also pros from Russia, Korea and Singapore looking to snag some Red Dragon glory.

Here's a complete look at the final table players and their chip counts:

Seat

Name

Country

Chip Count

1

Minho Lee

Korea

2,655,000

2

Aleksei Opalikhin

Russia

2,200,000

3

Junhao Hong

China

4,610,000

4

Alvin Zheng

China

2,830,000

5

Zhou Tong

China

2,965,000

6

Dongqi Lin

China

1,680,000

7

Zhen Hua

China

995,000

8

Jiming Chen

China

535,000

9

Jiang Ho Huang

Singapore

3,985,000

Every player at the final table will have a little extra incentive to take this one down in the form of a $30,000 Platinum Pass provided by PokerStars.

The $30,000 Platinum Pass package includes a seat to the first-ever $25,000 PokerStars Players Championship along with $5,000 for airfare and accommodations. In addition there's also a seat into the HK$100,000 ACOP Main Event for first place. That's not even counting the HK$3m first-place prize.

Junhao Hong (right) wins AK vs. AK against Aleksei Opalikhin (left).

Day 3 began with 69 players still chasing the Red Dragon dream.

The field had absolutely no interest in chilling and within just one hour of play there were nearly 20 players that had made their way to the payout booth.

Ying Tang, the overnight chip leader, seemed unstoppable at the start of play but started to fade as we crossed into the second level of the day.

The rapid pace kept up and by the time the dinner break came around at end of Level 23 the field had been reduced to 28 players. For some reason the after dinner rush was real today and there were four eliminations within minutes of players returning from their break including popular Hong Kong player Juicy Li.

It was during this portion of the evening that Aleksei Opalikhin emerged as the chip leader. Little did Opalikhin know that he was in store for arguably the sickest beat of the entire tournament thus far.

Minho Lee is looking to become the first Korean Red Dragon winner.

Opalikhin lost AK to AK when Junhao Hong managed to go runner-runner to complete his flush in a pot worth 3.8 million.

All was not lost for Opalikhin, however, and he actually managed to battle back and make the final table with 2.2 million.

Former chip leader Ying Tang finally made her way to the rail in 12th place. She picked up HK$160,500 but likely had her mind set on that final table and the $30,000 Platinum Pass.

Final table bubble boy Gang Wang

The final table bubble proved an interesting one with Gang Wang folding pocket kings to a 3-bet all-in shove from Minho Lee. It proved to be the wrong choice as Minho Lee had ace-jack and Aleksei Opalikhin had pocket nines. The board bricked out and Wang missed out on an enormous pot.

Wang never seemed to recover from folding kings and ending up in a disastrous situation when he made a move on Aleksei Opalikhin with 6♣2♣ only to get snapped off with A♠K♠.

Tomorrow is poised to be an action-packed day of poker with the final table kicking off at 3 p.m. and playing to a winner.

If that's not enough action for you there will also be a HK$80,000 high roller starting up at 7:30 p.m. That high roller will be awarding another $30,000 Platinum Package so it's sure to be well attended.

Until then get some sleep and get ready for some more Macau-style action coming straight from the City of Dreams to your living room. --AC

On the cusp of the final table, there are understandably a few nervous players out there. The big stacks such as Hong and Lee are taking this opportunity to collect chips at a pretty high clip.

The medium stacks are finding it hard to open as the risk when they are three-bet is so huge, those big stacks can really attack with a wide range of hands.

Who will be the unlucky player to miss out on the final? We have Junhao Hong leading right now with around 3.6 million - but Minho Lee isn't far behind with over 3 mill himself.

No player is so far in front they can consider themselves 100% insulated from being eliminated on the final table bubble. Tense stuff... -- RS

11:50pm: Opalikhin triples in a hand that should've been the last of the dayLevel 27: Blinds 40,000/80,000 (ante 10,000)

Aleksei Opalikhin should be out, but a strange turn of events means he's actually tripled up his 230,000 stack.

The Russian player moved all-in from under the gun and was snap called by Gang Wang in the next seat. Miho Lee then came in with a squeeze to a million straight. The action was back on Lee and he folded pocket kings! His lively friends on the rail gave him tons of abuse and he held his head as he saw his opponents open....

Opalikhin: 9♦9♠Lee: A♦J♦

The board ran 3♦6♥2♣T♠7♠ to see the nines hold. Lee was never so happy to hand over 230,000 chips, it could've been a lot more expensive for him. --MC

Tang came into the day as a big chip leader and she's been atop the rankings for a fair portion of the day but the last few levels have seen her dip a little and the stacks being as they are - one bad run of fortune and that's it.

Tang had just under 800,000 and decided K♣Q♠ was good enough to shove. She did so, only for Zhou Tong to pick up an ominously large stack of green 25,000 chips and re-raise to isolate.

The rest of the table watched eagerly as big stack Tong flipped up a dominating A♣Q♣. Tang was in trouble and although the board briefly threatened an upset, it ran T♦8♣8♠J♥2♦ and her day was finished in 12th spot, good for HK$160,500.

Well played Miss Tang, we hope to see you again soon. Tong meanwhile has accumulated a monster stack now - up to 3,000,000. --RS

Li Tao just tried a spectacular bluff. He'd reached the river of a 3♦4♦2♥Q♥7♦ board and the river card looked like a nice texture to get Junhao Hong off a hand, completing both a straight and a flush.

He jammed all-in for 400,000 or so, only to get snap-called by Hong. The hand he was representing - most likely a flush - was the hand Hong was holding - a flush with Q♦9♦. Don't you just hate it when your opponent has what you're representing?

That bluff was destined to fall on stony ground. Hong started laughing as he picked up a giant pot by just clicking call. Too easy. Tao miserably collected his things and melted into the night. You shouldn't feel too bad Li. Finishing 18th for HK$102,100 is no mean achievement. --RS

The eliminations are really starting crank up a notch as we get closer and closer to the final two tables of the tournament.

The latest bustout saw Jiang Ho Huang go in for a standard raise from late position only to have Kunal Manohar Punjwani move all-in from the button.

Jiang Ho Huang made the call and flipped over A♦K♦ which was firmly in the lead of Punjwani's A♥J♥.

The board ran out K♥T♦2♦7♥8♦ to eliminate Punjwani from the tournament. Jiang Ho Huang, on the other hand, is crushing with more than 2.2 million chips. It's an incredible feat considering he started the day with just under 200,000 chips. --AC

Back from the break, and I'm afraid the Red Dragon dream has died for the following players. Here's the financial reward they get for surviving so deep into the belly of the dragon. Congratulations guys. --RS

Name

Country

Payout

25

Zhen

Wang

China

$64,200

26

Xiaoxiang

Li

China

$64,200

27

Raiden Yew Fatt

Kan

Hong Kong

$64,200

8:55pm: Aces for CoLevel 24: Blinds 3,000/6,000 (ante 1,000)

You're under the gun with 13.5 big blinds and really need a hand. Then you look down and what you see is not a dream.

Eugene Kim Co had, you guessed it, aces in the hole and moved all-in. The action folded around to Zhou Tong on the button and he moved in over the top, forcing the blinds to fold.

The dragon has been fed and has taken wing once more. We're closing in on determining the final nine players who will contest the Red Dragon final.

That HK$3,055,000 and US$30,000 Platinum Pass ticket must feel tantalisingly close for the players now, having survived nearly a thousand players to reach this point. Just another twenty or so till they can call themselves champion!

Dragons get hungry, the same as us. The Red Dragon must be fed and it is time for its dinner.

We're off to catch a sheep, put fire retardant suits on and give the dragon some roast lamb.

We suggest you find a safer way to spend the next hour. Grab some food and enjoy the video of last night's player party below. We'll return with the final 28 players battling to make it to the final table. See you then! --RS

This looks to be our top five chip counts but check the chip count tab for even more counts:

We're down another player as Shanmeng Li went all-in with A♣Q♦ and got snapped off by a Yifan Zheng with A♥K♣.

The board ran out 6♦3♠2♥T♥6♣ to eliminate Li. We're now down to 31 players and very close to getting down to just three tables.

6:45pm: The DominatorsLevel 23: Blinds 15,000/30,000 (ante 4,000)On the rise are Tianyu Chen who now has a mighty 1,200,000 whilst Matt Moss is in beastmode right now - pushing up past 2,000,000 to lead the overall counts as we speak.

Ying Tang is still holding a pretty monstrous stack herself despite being leap-frogged by Moss. She's on 1,800,000.

A few other stacks of note are Gang Weng who has 525,000 and Aleksei Opalikhin with 675,000. --RS

Eights are lucky in Chinese culture. We've heard it said some players prefer pocket eights to aces as eight is such a lucky number. It's possible Xingbao Zhu might be one of those who doesn't subscribe to that opinion following his recent elimination.

Holding the felicitous pocket eights, he went to war with Kunal Manohar preflop for his entire stack - Manohar holding pocket tens - but there was no magic in the air and the better pair won over the 5♣7♥Q♦3♥3♦ board.

Zhu's day was over - for once the luckiest hand in poker had let him down. Manohar is up to 460,000 and looking pleased as punch about it.--RS

Junhao Hong wins the prize for the loudest player left in the tournament. Every time his stack is in the middle - he stands and yells in Chinese at the flop.

We've had this translated by our local friends. Apparently it is something like "hold, hold HOLD!!!" It's great he's so enthusiastic about his poker but his tablemates might be thinking about popping in a couple of earplugs soon!

His most recent assault on his tablemate's eardrums occurred when he squeezed all-in for his 250,000 stack once Gang Weng had raised to 50,000 from the cut-off, called by Pan Gu on the button. Gu was the sole caller, turning up 5♣5♠ to Hong's well-ahead 8♣8♠.

Hong was well ahead but he made sure of victory by yelling at full volume throughout the hand. The board peeled J♦J♣7♠4♥K♥ to Hong's delight. One (thankfully) final shout of "yes!" and he was up to 600,000! --RS

5:44pm: Final four tablesLevel 22: Blinds 10,000/20,000 (ante 3,000)

We're officially down to the final 36 players with just four tables. The pace here on Day 3 continues to be race-car fast but we're expecting things to slowdown immensely as we get closer to the final table.

Every player left has locked up HK$58,300 just by making it this far but exponentially bigger prizes await the final table players. --AC

5:29pm: Minho on the moveLevel 22: Blinds 10,000/20,000 (ante 3,000)

The doctor is in.

Korea's Minho Lee finished just shy of the chip lead last night but he's making an excellent case for himself to be the end of Day 3 chip leader.

Thanks to two successful hands he's once again near the very top of the counts.

In the first hand Lee knocked out an opponent with A♥4♥ over T♥9♦. Lee flopped an ace and that was more than enough to net him the pot and eliminate another player.

In the next hand Lee put pressure on the big blind when he bet 55,000 from the small blind. The player on the big blind, Gang Wang, made the call.

The flop came K♥7♠6♦ and Lee followed up with a c-bet of 52,000. Wang called and the turn came J♥.

This time Lee slowed his roll and checked. Wang followed suit and the river fell 4♣. Lee immediately pushed a 103,000 bet into the middle.

Wang thought for several minutes but eventually made the call only to have Lee flip over K♠6♠ for two-pair.

After the hand Lee was up to about 1.48m and looking especially dangerous on Day 3. -- AC

With 40 players remaining, the pressure is rising here at the Red Dragon. All this stress might be a little draining so it's a good thing there are several fridges stocked with cans of Red Bull, who are the exclusive energy drink providers of PokerStars Live at The City of Dreams, dotted around the casino floor. Help yourselves! --RS

Just before the break Yeyu Chen was eliminated by Zikun Chen - his Q-9 failing to outrun Zikun's big slick.

Chen moves to 285,000 after that hand and we now have updated chip counts available so you can see the lay of the land. Matthew Moss is on the march (up to 940,000) but Ting still reigns supreme for now with over 1.5 million. --RS

4:59pm: First breakLevel 21: Blinds 8,000/16,000 (ante 2,000)

We've reached the first 15-minute break of the day and we'll have updated chip counts for you momentarily. Play is moving extremely fast as we're already down to 43 players.

Pocket nines, a 15BB stack and an unopened button. Tianyu Chen thought this the perfect opportunity for a shove and went all-in.

He didn't bank on namesake Chen Li finding pocket aces in the small blind however and when Li called - Tianyu's tournament was on the line.

He found salvation however. The poker gods smiled upon him and a nine was peeled off from the dealer to win him the pot. Li took the beat well, laughing as he passed over a chunk of his stack, still well up over 500,000.

Tianyu meanwhile rises to 480,000 - that spiked nine could be the springboard to bigger and better things for him. --RS

4:26pm: Moss is bossLevel 21: Blinds 8,000/16,000 (ante 2,000)

Matt Moss

The U.K.'s Matt Moss narrowly missed out on becoming the overnight chip leader yesterday when he stumbled in the last level and Ying Tang rocketed up the counts.

It appears today he's dead-set on regaining that chip lead.

Moss opened for 27,000 on the button and got one caller in the big blind. The flop came A♥9♦3♣ and the big blind player checked. Moss fired 25,000 and his opponent called.

The turn came 8♣ and once again the big blind player checked but Moss fired a hefty 74,000 into the pot. That was enough to finally chase the other player out of the hand.

It wasn't a huge pot for Moss but thanks to a few other decent pots the English player is up to over 800,000 and going the right direction.

4:15pm: Wang beats TangLevel 21: Blinds 8,000/16,000 (ante 2,000)

Ying Tang

It took awhile but Ying Tang is finally starting to come down to earth from her peak of nearly 1.8m chips.

Yugan Wang opened for 35,000 from early position and Tang made the call from the big blind.

The flop came T♦8♥4♥ and both players checked. That brought a J♦ turn. Tang checked again but Wang fired 40,000 into the pot. Tang called and the river fell Q♦.

Once again Tang checked and Wang thought for a minute or two but then fired 90,000 into the pot. Tang went into tank and frustratedly weighed her options. In the end she couldn't make the call and opted to throw her hand in the muck.

Wang tapped his hand on felt before flashing an ace as he threw his hand into the muck and raked in the pot.

Tang fell down to a still sizable 1.57 million chips after the hand while Wang seems to be trending up with 1.3 million. --AC

Yueping Ding just spent a painful few minutes wrestling with variance and by the time it was over he'd been pinned for a three count.

First off, Zhehua Lu jammed all-in from the small blind for 133,000 - 11 big blinds, and Ding made an understandable call with 3♥3♣.

Lu had A♣8♠ and won the pot over the 8♦7♠9♣J♠4♣ board to move to 280,000, leaving Ding with just 22,000 - on the cusp of elimination.

The next hand saw the action fold to Lu on the button who celebrated his good fortune with a raise to 25,000.

Lu was priced in with any two but when he looked down at 7♠2♣ - the worst hand in poker - he chuckled to himself. He could barely bring himself to do it but eventually he realised the maths compelled him and made the call for his entire stack.

Juicy Li in the big blind came along for the ride and the two active players checked down the Q♦Q♣T♣8♠8♦ board - Li turning up T♥J♥ to claim the pot and move to over 200,000. Ding got a few laughs when he turned over his 7-2 offsuit but he won't be adding any more entertainment to the tournament as his chips have run out. Well played sir. --RS

Hanyang Li was one of the short stacks to start the day and wasted no time making several all-in shoves and getting folds from her opponents.

Her luck finally ran out when she shoved for 125,000 from UTG with A♥9♣ and got called down the player in the big blind who held K♦Q♥.

The board ran out J♥8♠7♦K♠5♦ to eliminate Li, who's been one of the most active players in this tournament.

The bustouts are coming frequently here on Day 3 and we're already down to 57 players from the starting 69. --AC

3:25pm: Hong brings the noiseLevel 21: Blinds 8,000/16,000 (ante 2,000)Jack En-Ching Wu has played his last in the Red Dragon. We approached his table due to a huge roar from Junhao Hong, who had A♦2♦ in front of him on a board of 6♦5♣3♦9♠2♠ - Wu showing A♥K♦.

At some point along the way all the chips had entered the pot. However it went in, Hong held the winning hand with that pair of deuces and his bellowing celebrations echoing round the arena were the soundtrack to him chipping up to over 600,000.

Wu looked sad but resigned as he left his seat - his Red Dragon dream over. --RS

3:14pm: Paging Cui JunLevel 20: Blinds 6,000/12,000 (ante 2,000)

We've got a no-show here on Day 3.

If anyone knows Cui Jun you might want to suggest to them that they make their way to the PokerStars LIVE Macau Poker Room as soon as possible.

Jun was one of the short stacks to start the day with 228,000 but he's already blinded down to 192,000.

It might have something to do with the amazing player party that was held last night but Jun needs to get to the poker room ASAP if he wants a legit shot at this thing. --AC

Ying Tang has begun the day as she finished yesterday. Causing destruction to her fellow tablemates and chipping up all the while.

In the first few hands, it was folded to Tang on the button. She glanced over at the stacks of the two blinds - both fairly short - and announced all-in, her own monster stack dwarfing them both.

Kimio Takasugi in the small blind picked up his 92,000 stack and pushed it over the line and once the big blind folded the cards were revealed.

Tang: K♥2♣Takasugi: A♠Q♦

The man in danger was ahead but Tang was live, and when the board ran out a Tang-friendly 8♥2♠4♥J♦8♦ she'd spiked two pair to take it down. Takasugi didn't look surprised as he gathered his belongings and left.

He finishes up with HK$37,900 for his deep run and Tang augments her massive stack yet further...up to over 1,400,000 now. --RS

3:01pm: Day 3 is a goLevel 20: Blinds 6,000/12,000 (ante 2,000)

Day 3 is officially off and running at the PokerStars LIVE poker room in Macau at the City of Dreams. We've just seen the debut of a very pretty green 25,000 chip. That's the chip you want at this point of the tournament.

Final table looming on Day 3 of MPC28 Red Dragon Main Event

Sixty-nine players return to the PokerStars LIVE poker room today with dreams of making the vaunted final table but the real question is to whether anyone will be able to slow down a surging Ying Tang who finished with a staggering 1.39 million and appeared nigh-unbeatable as the evening came to a close.

Will Matt Moss regain his status as chip leader?

Tang does have some competition in the form of Korean Minho Lee who finished with a similar 1.3 million chips but wasn't nearly as dominant as the breakout Chinese player.

The stakes are unquestionably high with a trip to the MPC28 Red Dragon final table on the line today. The winner of said final table will walk away with a staggering HK$3,055,000 but the perks for winning the tournament are in a realm of their own with both a $30,000 Platinum Package to the 2019 PSPC on the line as well as a HK$100,000 seat to the upcoming ACOP Main Event.

The top 10 chip counts are littered with players from around the world including the UK, India, Taiwan, Philippines and, of course, China.

Some of the notables in action today include Brit Matt Moss (674,000 chips) who was the first player to crack the 1m-chip mark in this event as well as Day 1C chip leader Ian Modder (179,000).

It's sure to be a fascinating day of poker with so much extra value available at the nine-player final table. We expect a hard-fought battle right to the bitter end tonight.

Action will resume at 3 p.m. today so keep it locked on the PokerStars Blog to see how everything shakes out today and who earns a trip to the fabled Red Dragon final table --AC

PokerStars Blog reporting team at the MPC: Marc Convey, Arthur Crowson and Rod Stirzaker. Photography by Long Guan of Kenneth Lim Photography. Videos by Alex Pinkett and James Beer of 23 Digital